Negative Reinforcement
it's a pun, you see
Comments (97)
"tool blindness" as a human parallel for AI's made me laugh
Hold on, just shake boxes of lime jello into moray until she's the right color, this isn't super science here guys, you just need to overtone the pigment
Also someone has probably pointed this out already but isn't Moray at least partially phytoplankton powered? I don't know how she'd get the energy needed to survive if she was purple, purple is not the color of photosynthesis.
It can be! E.g. here ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Earth_hypothesis ) and linked here ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteriorhodopsin ) so maybe all the WOOM Device did was shift Moray about three billion years along an alternate timeline.
Just noticed - and I refuse to believe it's unrelated - that Liz's clothes were outlined in purple while the device was wooming.
Couldn't make it WOOM again today -- running out of black pixels. Have to gather some more after dark.
The inability to reproduce (or in this case DE-produce) an effect in no way means that said effect was not caused by a particular device. I have literally watched things happen and not been able to repeat them.
"Car Talk with Martok" could solve this with one call.
They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care; They pursued it with forks and hope; They threatened its life with a railway-share; They charmed it with smiles and soap.
The Device transported them into a new world - the movie The Woom, written by Tommy Riseau.
Oh hai Liz!
....are we CERTAIN the box CAUSES the 'WOOM'?
oh dear, and she can't just swap into a new body. maybe being temporarily reabsorbed would fix her? or maybe it would contaminate the director?!
At some point, all that Wooming is going to attract the attention of some people from an anonymous agency...
No, no, you have to set it to MOOW.
Many times I've threatened my devices with a hammer, and they responded.
What? That's not how you do science, that effect might be idempotent. You need to create another green Moray test subject, that is if the director wasn't affected as well. Maybe there's some Moray performing duties outside of cubetown?
I've got it! It didn't mess with Moray, it messed with everyone else's perception of her.
Well, including her perception of herself.
They obviously need the MOOW machine to fix this.
Ghostbusters II vibes
Isn't "Severe Tool Blindness" that band that never uses the same set of instruments twice?
It's a tribute band that recreates Tool videos without ever having seen them (only listening to the songs).
Percussive maintenance it is, then...
Starting to wonder if the WOOM had nothing to do with Moray's color change. Maybe the Director just made her so that she turns purple when dehydrated, exposed to a bit much UV light, or if her salinity gets a bit too high. If that's the case it might indicate she's been secretly working on something hard enough to neglect self-care (that could be fun). It might also make a bit of sense to have photo processing capabilities that shift balance in response to environmental changes, especially if she gets most of her metabolic energy that way. Or maybe it's some other thing. Can't wait to find out, regardless
Mind you, it's a bit odd that she doesn't know how her body works, to this degree. Seems like that's something she could get the librarian's help with. Is there a "what's happening to my body" book for Morays? Should she expect to go through some sort of [chrysalis | adolescence], next? (Also, how would that even work?)
something, something, demon core
Um ... I can't tell what the pun is.
The coloration of the first panel is in negative.
“Severe Tool Blindness” is how my spouse would describe their personal life up until a few years ago.
Came for the Woomy, stayed for the moray booty
It’s always there even if you can’t see it.
Two WOOMs in the same day broke it.
Not me trying to restrain myself from donning my Behavioral Psychologist spandex and cape… (img src=“girl_explaining.gif”) (pedantry) Ahem. Um, actually, percussive maintenance would be (intended as) positive punishment because Liz would be ADDING a stimulus in order to DECREASE the Woom Device’s current behavior (that is, doing nothing)… but of course it would only COUNT as positive punishment if the percussive maintenance got the Woom Device to stop doing nothing. Negative reinforcement would be removing a stimulus in order to increase a target behavior, but again, only if it actually did increase the target behavior. (/pedantry)
I love such pedantry.
If it was an effect of the machine, she would've woken up Woray
"Severe Tool Blindness" is so my go to when chastising millenials!
Negative reinforcement means the removal of a stimulus to reinforce behavior. I know no one cares but me, but it's wrong for the situation!
“It’s not doing it now … ” Liz is on to something.
Go Liz!
mmm, neither Liz nor Moray were around for the orbital pizza summoning device, were they (click, click, click)
( https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3046 through https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3050 )
Wait, I assumed it was the woom machine’s fault. Why she ourple
Pronouncive coloration: ourple, yourple, theyple, themple, heple, sheple (wake up!), xiple ...
I like cake.
ⁿᵒᵐ
Ah yes, percussive maintenance the first and best resort to technical problems.
How did I not notice that diamond hanging there the past few pages? Not seeing the wire on this page, I thought it was a new AI floating there quietly, summoned by the woom.
New fan favorite character: Floating Yellow Octahedron Emitting A Loud Woom
Where's the ka-woom? There was supposed to be an earth shattering ka-woom!
It won't happen. Bugs Bunny was hired by the Wacky Hijinks Department and he has STOLEN the Illudim Q-36 explosive space modulator.
I didn't realize I had tool blindness myself until reading that it exists!
When you WOOM one more time To un-purple your slime That's A Moray!
When a cube that goes WOOM Inflicts violet doom Upon Moray!
"Words Of Great Encouragement."
Words Of Outstanding Motivation
… I am definitely more Liz in this moment. Although the previous suggestion to change the position of the box also has merit. Also she should change her hair back. It’s not an exact replication of experiment.
Reverse the polarity! Modulate the shield frequency!
Time to bust out the BFH.
Maybe they should stand back, give it woom to breathe.
Was that yellow diamond always there?
It was there yesterday, yes. Some claim you could see it was hanging on a string. [Edit: went back and looked. There's a string, all right. How did I miss that?]
Perhaps she needs to be farther away. Maybe the Woom's effects intensify with distance as it travels.
I think a sledge is the appropriate tool for disassembly.(or a threat to do so)
Is this gonna be the project that gets Liz back into her work???? 🥺
I like the picture window means they have a woom with a view
Tool blindness is such a great concept for world building AIs tbh
🎵 When the box on the bench Is persuaded by wrench To help Moray!
If nothing else this will affirm Liz that she's not the biggest liability to Cubetown, which actually may be great for her
You know, all these puns on Moray's name are going to get the Dean Martin estate mad at Jeph...
O tempora! O Morays!
Why is nobody talking about the floating D8?
People mentioned it yesterday. Also on yesterday's page you can see it's hanging on a string.
Not surprised that the box has a refractory period.
remember to take hydration breaks when WOOMing !!
Aaand she has dysphoria
Ah, precusive maintenance, if it doesn't work hit it again
you're thinking of percussive. precursive is what you do before swearing at it.
PERHAPS IT NEEDS TO BE THREATENED WITH CRUSHING?
being sat upon?
Tool blindness is a terrible affliction. Chainsaws are inappropriate eating utensils.
But in the right hands (Bubbles's) a concrete saw can accomplish almost anything!
When you threaten a box 'Cause it caused your friend's pox For a Moray
You storm into its room 'Cause the damn thing went WOOM For a Moray
Liz is gonna woom her way inside that box, in the most destructive way possible. 🫣
call that returning to the woom
Did Liz have a class in percussive maintenance during her PhD studies, or is she just a natural?
I learned the term percussive maintenance in college. There was a brand of terminal in the computer room with a keyboard separated on a wire. (V200 for the other ancients here). Apparently, there was a known defect where a particular chip in the keyboard would get weird, and cause the keyboard to lock up. The official, informed by the head of the computer maintenance department, immediate fix for this was to lift the right side of the keyboard approximately 2 in and then let it drop to the table. Worked every time. When I mention this to my father, Jack of all trades, he's the one who said, "Ah! percussive maintenance!"
Could later be discovered that the woom device was inserting air into the director's fluid tubes, creating ibs style pre-temporal flatulence
Now wondering if a monkey wrench is the engineering equivalent of the monkey paw curse.
each one does give you four wishes, as long as they are all for tightened bolts
Maybe if you turn it upside down, then the woom would become....woom. That's all I had. Anyone else?
if you turn it on its side, then instead of woom it goes E O O 3
I just hammer the screws.
When all you have is a hammer...
I always work better with my screws in
😗🤌